Outgoing UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced this month that the government will introduce legislation later this year to block access to social media platforms for users under seventeen. Critics pointed to similar restrictions introduced by other countries as having limited, to no real, impact on children’s social media access.
Efforts by countries including Australia have been deemed failures. Though initially Australian officials boasted that 4.7 million accounts held by children under sixteen had lost access to social media platforms like TikTok and Snapchat, research shows that just months later, the ban has had little effect.
A University of Newcastle study of 408 12 to 17-year-olds found that due to “limited implementation, incomplete compliance, and substantial circumvention of social media restrictions, the ban has been unsuccessful”.
UK officials countered criticism with claims that the legislation will require strict age enforcement controls, which the platform vendors themselves will be responsible for executing. These include sophisticated and potentially controversial age verification technology.
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall directed Ofcom, the UK’s regulatory authority for the broadcasting, internet, telecommunications and postal entities, to conduct an evaluation by October of what accurate systems can be used to validate a user is over 16. Possible solutions include biometric face-age estimation or third-party identity checks.
Educators and researchers have long raised red flags about the potential harm social media poses to children and teenagers. Research from the US Surgeon General and the American Psychological Association reported that minors spending more than three hours a day on social media experience double the depression and anxiety of those who don’t.
Other issues linked to social media use in children include poor body image, sleep deprivation, and even structural impact on brain development in areas like impulse control.
“As alarming as the byproducts of social media can be, the almost Draconian efforts to thwart access introduce some other serious concerns,” says Amy Larsen DeCarlo, GlobalData principal analyst, enterprise technology services.
”Once biometrics are introduced en masse, what controls will be in place to ensure there is no manipulation or other misuse of the content. And at what point do you set the boundary of what is and isn’t social media? With many news and other information sites incorporating forum content, will students be prevented from accessing this as well?” says Larsen DeCarlo.
However, with as many as nine of ten UK parents approving of the ban, it is likely to be carried forward. Only time will tell how inventive UK children will be in circumnavigating social media restrictions.
